Kenyon's Stanley out as coach

Ted Stanley's Lords had one
winning season in his nine-year tenure, after he inherited a
program that had won six games in four seasons.
Kenyon athletics photo

Ted Stanley resigned as Kenyon's head football coach on Monday,
after nine seasons at the helm. Stanley leaves Kenyon after several
years in which the football program has struggled to attract
recruits and to find success on the field. The team posted 0-10
records in each of the past two seasons. Stanley's overall coaching
record at Kenyon is 20-70.

Stanley was hired in 2003 during a similarly troubled period. The
number of players had dwindled dangerously, and wins were scarce.
By 2005, the new coach had rebuilt the roster and led the Lords to
a 6-4 overall record and a second-place 6-1 finish in the North
Coast Athletic Conference.

Since then, however, team depth has diminished as recruiting has
suffered. From 2006-11, the Lords have gone 10-50 and have an
active streak of 23 consecutive losses. The team's closest game
this season was a 16-13 loss at Hiram.

Stanley disputed the insinuation that recruiting was the
issue.

“Look at the teams that I have had,” Stanley told the paper. “We had some of the best
Kenyon offenses ever. And that was due to my ability to recruit ...
and the assistant coaches with me. Unfortunately, in the last two
years, we were not able to bring in the type of kid that we wanted
to bring in to help us be competitive. And they were, in my mind,
admissable students, and could certainly handle the Kenyon
workload. They chose not to allow those kids in.”

The school recently announced it was launching a review of the
football program with the goal of improving it.

"Kenyon
is grateful for the nearly nine years that Ted Stanley has served
as head football coach, for the passion and dedication that he
brought to his work, and for the ways in which he has had a
positive impact on the lives of many student-athletes," dean of
students Hank Toutain said in the school's statement. "As team
leadership changes, we look forward to greater success not only on
the playing field, but in sustaining an experience that is as
positive and competitive as possible for our students."

Kenyon
said it will conduct a national search for its next head football
coach. In the meantime, Ty McGuire, the program's defensive
coordinator, will serve as interim head coach.